The Rivoli was a Téméraire class ship of the line

Téméraire class ship of the line

The Téméraire class ships of the line was a class of 107 74-gun ships of the line built between 1782 and 1813 for the French navy. The type was and remains the most numerous class of capital ship ever built....

 of the French Navy.

Rivoli was built in Venice, whose harbour was too shallow for a 74 to exit. To allow her to depart, a system of external ballasts, known as Chameaux ("camels"), was added to improved her Buoyancy. With Mont Saint Bernard, she was the only ship of the line to use the system.

On her maiden journey, she was intercepted by a British 74-gun third rate HMS Victorious

HMS Victorious (1808)

HMS Victorious was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Bucklers Hard on 20 October 1808, just five years after the previous had been broken up....

. Her crew was inexperienced, and in the ensuing Action of 22 February 1812

Action of 22 February 1812

The Battle of Pirano on 22 February 1812 was a minor naval action of the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars fought between a British and a French ship of the line in the vicinity of the town of Piran in Adriatic Sea. The French Rivoli, named for Napoleon's victory 15 years earlier, had been...

, Rivoli was captured.

She was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 as HMS Rivoli. On 30 May 1815, under Captain Edward Stirling Dickson

Edward Stirling Dickson

Vice-Admiral Edward Stirling Dickson was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars.-Early career:...

, she destroyed the frigate Melpomène off Naples.

External links

• HMS Rivoli